Girl Trouble
by P.J. Lowry
Summary: Batman is upset that Robin isn't concentrating on his work, but gets the 411 from Alfred that the young ward might be distracted by the one thing that gets to all men at that age: girls.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** _This story takes place about six months after the final episode of Season 1 of Young Justice.  
_

* * *

Robin sat in the cave and sighed. He wanted to be back at the island with the rest of the team, but Batman insisted that he return to the cave for some long, overdue retraining to sharpen their skills. It had been an exhausting day, but the Dark Knight could tell that his young sidekick had been distracted most of the day and was making careless mistakes that he would never tolerate on the field. He had called a break for lunch with the hopes that his young squire would refocus and come back that afternoon with more gusto, but watching Robin from a distance gave him no indication that anything would change.

Batman gave off a low growl of clear frustration, one that could easily be translated by Alfred as he strolled into the cave with the lunch he had been preparing for the two of them. "Training not going very well, master Bruce?"

"He's not focusing." Bruce replied. "He's been like this for almost the entire week."

"He's a teenager." Alfred said, "These are not easy years for a young lad. I remember you were far more reckless than he ever was and had a lot less responsibility as well when you were his age."

"Do you think I'm pushing him too hard?" Bruce asked.

"Possibly." Alfred honestly answered. "But I don't think that's the reason for your current situation."

"Is that so?" Bruce asked as he turned to the butler. "And you have the answer to what's going on?"

"As a matter of fact, Master Bruce, I do." Alfred answered.

"Do tell." Bruce insisted as he sat down, eager to know what he missing when watching Robin all day.

"That look Master Dick has on his face is one I have seen many times before." Alfred said as he cracked a small grin. "It was the same look you had on your face whenever you returned from an encounter with Ms. Kyle."

Bruce paused for a moment and looked back at Robin for a moment and then back at Alfred again. "You mean..."

"Yes." Alfred confirmed. "Master Dick is having lady problems."

"What should we do about it?" Bruce asked.

Alfred sighed, "I would recommend you go down there and talk to him about it."

"I'm not sure what I should say." Bruce answered honestly. "I'm not exactly an expert with the ladies myself."

"I noticed that." Alfred concurred. "But unless you'd prefer he get dating advice from the Hal Jordan or even Oliver..."

"All right, all right." Bruce said as he stood back up. He took the tray of food from Alfred and carried it down himself, something to use as an icebreaker to sit down and talk to the young ward.

Dick saw him walking up down the stairs with the tray, "Hey. Where's Al?"

"He's busy," Bruce answered with a calmer tone. "And we need to talk."

"I know I'm not doing well this morning." Dick admitted, "I'm sorry."

"That's not what I'm here to talk about." Bruce said as he put the tray down and took a seat. "Alfred is under the impression that you are having woman problems." Bruce paused for a moment to gauge Dick's response and the young man seemed to be a little too shocked to say anything. "Okay, who is it?"

"I can't say." Dick said as he seemed to be a little shy about it.

"Dick, this isn't a game." Bruce said as he took a piece of food from the tray and started to eat. "We need to discuss this and what kind of an impact it might have on our work."

"I think its impact would be rather minimal." Dick replied.

"I'm not so sure about that." Bruce disagreed. "Bringing any civilian into our world can always lead to…"

"She's not a civilian." Dick corrected.

Bruce paused for a moment as this seemed to surprise him. He had been watching the Dick's team for months and never caught any hint of him forming a romantic relationship with any other members. Superboy and Miss Martian were no shy about what they were doing that even the Flash was able to catch onto it, but if Dick was having relations with someone on the team, he was doing it off camera meaning that he was good at hiding what was going on. Bruce paused for a moment to finish what he was eating. "What's her name?"

"Zatanna." Dick answered.

Bruce had no idea that Dick had been getting romantic with the daughter of Justice League member Zatara, but did his best to act as if he wasn't really surprised at all about it. "All right."

"I hope you're not angry." Dick said.

"I'm not." Bruce replied, which wasn't far from the truth. "These things were bound to happen, given how much time the team spends together. I'm just pleased to see how discrete you're being about this, unlike other members of your team."

"Tell me about it." Dick concurred as he knew exactly who Bruce was referring to. He had no intentions of flaunting his feelings for Zatanna around the island like Superboy had been with regards to Miss Martian.

"Is this the reason why you're so distracted?" Bruce asked.

"Alfred is right." Dick answered. "It's been hard for me to concentrate because of this."

"How long has this been going on?" Bruce asked, somewhat curious himself.

"A few months now," Dick answered, "But it got more intense after the incident with the League at the Watchtower."

"How so?" Bruce asked.

"We kissed when the new year struck." Dick answered. "It was pretty awesome."

Bruce smiled. "So what's the problem?"

"Well..." Dick said as he hesitated for a moment. "There's something about it that's really getting to me."

"Such as?" Bruce asked.

"It's the secret identity." Dick answered. "She doesn't know the real me... she knows Robin. She doesn't even know what I look like without a mask on."

Bruce could tell this was a big issue with the young man and did his best to sympathize. "There are one or two women who I have revealed…"

"One or two?" Alfred called out from the landing above.

"All right," Bruce conceded, "There are a few women out there who know my identity because I was romantically involved with them. If this relationship with Zatanna is the real thing, then we will reveal your identity to her and her alone when the time is right."

Dick sat up and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Really?"

"Yes." Bruce confirmed. "Really."

"When would that be?" Dick asked, somewhat curious.

"I'm not too sure, but we should be careful about it." Bruce said as he stood up. "It's a big step and I want you to learn from my mistakes. Revealing your identity too early can lead to complications."

"You mean like your encounters with Ms. Kyle?" Dick asked.

"Yes." Bruce said with a sigh. "Like that."

"And Diana?" Dick then asked.

Bruce looked down at Robin. "How do you know about Diana?"

Dick paused for a moment and then grinned. "She's been hitting me up for intel… trying to get gift ideas."

Bruce paused for a moment, but the decided to let it go. "That's not a matter I prefer to comment on. We need to get around your lack of focus. I realize it's easy to always think about the good things in life, but you can't let this get in the way of work. If you want me to lighten up and help you with your issues with Zatanna, you had better make sure your thing with her doesn't affect your work."

Dick nodded, "All right. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."

"We'll see." Bruce said as he started to walk away. "We're going to resume training in the morning. I expect to see an immediate improvement!"

"Thanks Bruce," Dick said, with a new found spirit. He watched Batman walk up the stairs and back to the manor. The young ward finished his lunch and then spent the better half of the afternoon training and preparing for the grueling action that Bruce was going bring at him the next day. His distraction was now a new goal, his inspiration to do the best he possibly could.


	2. Chapter 2

Zatanna Zatara was a little nervous. It was safe to say that for the last several years, she had been home schooled by her father... often covering subjects that schools rarely touch upon. On Batman's insistence, Zatanna was to attend high school with the rest of the team at Gotham High and improve her person skills, things that are often necessary to be a good superhero. To hear Batman lecture the team on people skills seemed a little hypocritical, but no one dared to point that out.

Zatanna was nervous at her first day back in a regular school, but she had friends going so it didn't seem like such a big deal. Artemis went there as well and they were both dressed appropriately for school when going back on a dreary Monday morning. Artemis also told Zatanna that Wally would be joining them for lunch so that made her feel better too.

While Zatanna was in class, she was very distracted. All she could think about was what happened several months ago. News Year's Eve and the big kiss with Robin. She was smitten for the famous sidekick, and no one knew but they had shared a few more kisses since that night and spent some time together in the secret base on the island.

"Ms. Zatara?" the teacher called out to her.

"Yes?" she called back when she finally came back to reality.

"We're not bothering you, are we?" the teacher chided back, obviously upset that she wasn't paying attention.

"I'm sorry," she called back. "It won't happen again."

"It's okay." The teacher said as she believed her. "Transitions can be rough, especially when coming from a background such as yours."

Her teacher had no idea how true that was. The bell suddenly rang and it was lunch time. She made her way to the cafeteria and spotted Artemis who was sitting at a table with Wally and Connor. Zatanna picked up a small tray of food and was on her way to the table to join her team-mates when tragedy struck. She bumped into someone and tripped, dropping her tray and the pre-made sandwich, apple and juice box she just bought onto the floor. She felt so embarrassed and there were a few people laughing at her. She wanted to whisper a spell and disappear, but she couldn't.

Before she could say or do anything, someone had come over to help her. When she looked up, she locked eyes with one of the most handsome boys she had ever seen. He had jet black hair, brown eyes and was wearing a school jacket that had white sleeves and a huge G on the left side of his chest. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She said as she tried to sit up.

"Here, let me help you." The young man said as he helped her up. He also picked up her food and put it back on the tray before handing it to her. "So… you're new here, right?"

"Yes." Zatanna replied.

"How are you doing on you first day?" he asked.

"I'm doing all right." She softly answered.

"Well, welcome to Gotham high." He said to her as he flashed a warm smile her way that almost melted Zatanna's heart. Before she could respond, some of the other jocks had come over and they bolted for the field to do a little practice before class resumed. As he was being pulled away, he managed to wave back. "See ya around!"

Zatanna collected herself and finally walked over to the table where her friends were sitting and quietly took a seat. Artemis was beside herself. "Oh my Gaud! I can't believe that just happened!"

"I know." Zatanna said as she almost blushed. "Who was that?"

"One of the most popular boys in the whole school." Megan swooned.

"One of the most annoying too." Connor added.

"Jocks." Wally said, somewhat jealous.

"He doesn't look as big as the other jocks." Zatanna noted.

"Don't let his size fool you." Wally replied. "That bugger is the best receiver in the state. They say he's a lock to get a scholarship at Gotham University to play football there."

"I heard he was being recruited by Metropolis as well." Connor added.

"These jocks have no idea who the real heroes are around here." Wally spat with jealousy that was hard to ignore.

"Relax Wally." Artemis as she gave Wally a soft hug, "We know who the real heroes are."

"Don't hold out on me." Zatanna said as she ate her sandwich. "Who was that boy?"

"That was Dick Grayson." Megan replied.

"Him?" Zatanna said as she couldn't believe it. "That's the kid Bruce Wayne adopted after his parents were killed in the freak circus accident?"

"The very same." Artemis confirmed.

"If you consider being murdered by Two-Face to be an accident." Wally informed them with a deep sigh. "So not only is this kid good looking but he's got a heart breaking story and money."

"Some people just get all the breaks." Connor agreed. He didn't like this Dick very much either, especially since he only hung out with the cool kids. Connor could have been a jock, but was asked by the League to keep a low profile and not participate in any after school academic activities.

"Hey," Artemis said, "He didn't choose to be where he is. I'm pretty sure he'd give it all up to get his parents back."

"I'm not sure I would." Wally admitted, and all he got for that quip was a punch in the arm from Artemis.

"Well, he's all right." Zatanna replied with a smile, but she was thinking of Robin again. While the Grayson boy was nice, her heart was already taken. Yet it was nice to know that there were backups available if things didn't work out. As she ate her lunch, she began to wonder where Robin himself went to school. Batman was so strict about keeping their identity's a secret that they didn't even know what school he went to, if he wasn't home schooled by Batman himself. Zatanna felt for Robin but soon engaged with the others about other things as lunch went on…


	3. Chapter 3

Time flew when you were having fun and for the young heroes in the Cave, things couldn't be more boring. Summer away from school was supposed to be fun but when you're all call in case the planet gets invaded, things couldn't be deader when criminals were either all locked up or too warm to want to make an effort at their trade. Robin entered the hangar where Connor and Wally were washing Sphere for the fifth time that day and could tell things needed to be livened up. Robin thought things needed to be changed and made a call to Batman. He moved to a private location in the cave to make his call. "Batman, I need to ask you for a favor."

"What do you need?" Batman responded.

"It's super boring in this cave." Robin answered. "We need a new place to hang out."

Batman's face didn't show any emption. "I don't have to remind you…"

"Yes, we're on call." Robin finished for him. "That doesn't mean we can't be on call from somewhere else. As long as we're next to a transporter that can get us to wherever we're needed, we can be on call from any league approved location."

"What did you have in mind?" Batman asked.

"How about the other cave?" Robin asked with fingers crossed behind his back.

"Absolutely not!" Batman roared back.

"Why not?" Robin asked. "As long as Alfred doesn't come down the guys should be more than distracted by your small collected of confiscated villain weaponry."

"And what if they catch on to the truth?" Batman asked.

"They won't." Robin said as he stood up for himself. "As long as they don't bump into Alfred and don't go upstairs, our secret should be safe."

Batman paused for a moment to ponder the request. "Zatanna has come down with the flu and Aqualad has been asked to attend a special ceremony in Atlantis. That's two shifts coming up in the next three days that need filling."

Robin knew exactly where he was going with this. "I'll do it."

"Which one?" Batman asked.

"Both." Robin answered without hesitation.

"All right." Batman said as he gave in. "As long as no one tries to sneak upstairs, you have my permission."

"Thanks Bruce." Robin said as he turned off the com panel. When he returned to the hanger, Connor and Wally were polishing sphere for the fifth time that day. "All right guys, he's not going get any shinier than he is now."

"There isn't much else to do." Wally answered.

"Not any more." Robin corrected. "Anyone up for a field trip?"

"We're on call." Connor said as he stood up. "We have to be at an approved League location."

"We're going to one." Robin said as he smiled. "How would you guys like take a tour of the Bat-Cave?"

Connor had no idea what he was talking about but Wally's face lit up almost immediately. "Really?"

"Really." Robin answered. "Batman just cleared your codes for transport there."

"I'm sorry." Connor asked. "Where are we supposed to be going?"

"This is Batman's secret lair!" Wally squealed. "I can't believe we're going to get a chance to see where Batman lives."

"Actually." Robin interrupted. "We live above the Bat-Cave. You have to promise not to go upstairs and stay inside the cave at all times."

Connor nodded. "All right, as long as there is something to do in this cave."

"Trust me." Robin replied. "There are plenty of cool things to see there. It's going to be really amazing when you see all the things Batman has collected from various villains throughout the years."

"All right!" Wally said with a wide grin. "Let's blow this pop stand!"

Robin typed in a special pass code into the transporter that only he and Batman knew, and activated the machine. "All right, let's go."

As the three of them entered the machine to transport from one cave to another, what was going to be another boring day at the cave was instead going to be a fun filled day Wally and Connor were not going to forget.

As they stepped into the other side of the portal, to Dick it was another day back in his own cave. Chores to do, Gotham police bandwidths to listen in on and homework to complete for school the next day. For Connor and Wally, this was a day at Disneyland. Connor was there for only a few seconds but he could quickly tell why the little guy was so excited. Just one look around and Connor saw all the machines that Batman used for travel like the Batmobile, the Bat-Jet and even a boat that he'd never heard of all parked there and ready to use whenever the Batman needed them. He also spotted a computer so large and advanced, even the system up at the watchtower failed to pale in comparison. There was also a large exhibit at the other end of the cave but Connor stopped when he noticed some movement from the top of the cave: bats. There was no telling whose home this was and Connor was starting to really get into being there.

Just several steps upon arriving, Robin held out his arms and stopped both Wally and Connor from moving in any further. "There's something wrong."

"What is it?" Connor asked.

"It's the computer." Robin said as he scrambled down the stairs and ran over to the main console. "There is way too much sensitive information on this machine to leave it on and unattended. Batman would blow a gasket if I left this running unattended."

"Did Bats leave it on?" Wally asked as he followed down the stairs with Connor.

"Not unless that's his memory stick in the main panel." Connor said as he pointed to a corner of the panel that was in front of Robin.

"Computer." Robin called out. There was no answer. "The system has been compromised. We're not alone here."

No sooner has Robin said that, about a half a dozen masked men in ninja like uniforms sprung from the darkness to take an offensive position against the three young boys. Robin could tell by the make of their identical uniforms exactly what he was dealing with. He had no idea where they came from and who gave them the location of the cave, but they were stealing Intel from the main computer and they had to be stopped at all costs.

"Who are these guys?" Wally said as he took his own defensive stance.

"Black Spider Assassins." Robin called back. "I have no idea who gave them our location but we've got to stop them from stealing from the main computer."

"Consider it done." Wally said as in a flash he ran behind the computer and pulled out every single cable that looked important to the machine, shutting it down instantly.

The moment Wally made his move the twelve Black Spiders sprung and lunged at Robin and Connor in a unified attack. Connor was the first to respond as he clocked on of the assassins with a punch that tossed the warrior clear across the room. Most of the assassins lunged out of the way as they realized they were dealing with a super powered being. Connor jumped out at them and counter attacked. Robin in the meantime had home field advantage was he used the beams and the various landscape of the cave to fight off his share of the assassins. Suddenly he stopped when he noticed Connor was pursuing one of the assassins into Batman's dressing room. "Connor! Stop! Don't go in there!"

"Why not?" Connor called as he got closer. About five steps away from the door he soon found out as he suddenly became weak and collapsed onto the ground with a pretty hefty thud. He was losing whatever strength he had and couldn't get back up.

"That's why!" Robin called back as he clocked another assassin and used a bat-cable to propel himself to Connor's position. He was aware of Bruce's stash of glowing green rocks that he kept in one of the dresser drawers in his change room. He picked Connor up and dragged him to a safe distance while Wally took over and started attacking other Spider Assassins on his own.

Once Connor was back on his feet, things seemed to turn their way that was until Robin saw one of the Spider Assassins grab the memory stick from the main computer and run up the stairs to the manor to make his escape. Robin came to the conclusion that they might have made their way through the manor to get into the cave. He was too far away to catch up, leaving Robin to make a split second decision. Expose their secret to members of the young group or risk a Spider Assassin getting away with who knows how much information they managed to download to that stick before they arrived to interrupt them. Could be barely anything or most of the data from the hard drive, and it was that unknown that cause Robin to pause. In the end Robin made what he thought was the right call. "Wally, get him!"

Wally looked up at the Assassin who just vanished upstairs. "Are you sure?"

"NOW!" Robin called out as he slammed another assassin's head off one of the crossbars with authority.

Wally did as he was told and ran up the stairs to the great unknown that he had earlier promised to never venture into. Once up the stairs he sped into the foyer of what was an enormous mansion and while Wally was stunning for a moment, he focused and caught up to the Assassin who was running for the main door. The Assassin was well aware that he wouldn't be able to outrun Wally to the door and grabbed a vase from the table in the center of the foyer and slammed it into the floor, shattering it. The vase itself didn't stop Wally from advancing but the water that was feeding the flowers inside it caused the speedy youngster to slip and fall into the main wall by the door. Before the Assassin has any time to be proud of his bold move, his chain of thought was interrupted by a punch from Connor Kent that sent him flying into the wall, crashing up against what looked like rather expensive work of art. Connor had used his super speed to catch up with Wally and make sure the last Assassin didn't make it out.

Robin finally made it to the foyer and took the memory stick away from the last Spider Assassin's hand. The date from the Bat Cave was secure and back in friendly hands. "That was too close." he said as he tried to catch his breath.

"What on earth is going on here?" a voice boomed from the top of the stairs.

Robin looked up and immediately tried to go into damage control mode. "Alfred, it's not what you think and there are…"

"I have eyes, Master Dick!" Alfred interrupted the young man as he scrambled down the stairs to survey the damage. "I was not informed of your arrival and I will make sure that every penny is taken out of your allowance to cover the…" Alfred stopped in mid-sentence when he reached the bottom of the stairs and realized that two other members of Robin's team and an unconscious Spider Assassin lying on the floor on the other side of the Foyer.

Wally stumbled to his feet and as he did he couldn't help but notice a portrait that was hanging on the other side of the Foyer. It was a painting of two men standing together, kind of like father and son. Wally had watched enough gossip shows to realize the older man in the picture was Bruce Wayne. He almost didn't recognize the kid that was standing beside had it not been for the Butler who called out his name: Dick. "Holy crap."

"Thanks Alfred." Dick said as he removed his mask. "Any more cats you want to let out of the bag in front of my friends or would you prefer we wait for the villain wake up first?"

"Oh dear." Alfred said as suddenly the damage in the foyer was the least of his worries.

Wally looked around before finally asking the obvious. "Are we in trouble?"


End file.
